Financial Confidence Exists Alongside Financial Vulnerability

Consumers report moderate confidence in their financial situations, but underlying data reveals persistent financial pressure. While many consumers show confidence in their ability to cover experiences and pay for everyday necessities, across the board there are an equal or even greater number of those who are not. And, a smaller, but significant group remains undecided.

When asked if they agree or disagree with the following statement, consumers said: 

Looking at the variety of where consumer confidence lies, this data shows that for most consumers, financial anxiety and confidence are not mutually exclusive. While a majority (54%) agree they are confident in their ability to cover any expenses, a similar majority (56%) agree they worry about covering unexpected expenses. Rather than illustrating a contradiction, this data proves that the line between confidence and anxiety is thinner than it appears.

And, many consumers show they are actually aware of how challenging that definition is.  Between 16% and 22% of consumers answered these as neither agree or disagree; meaning as many as 1 in 5 consumers actively operate in the liminal space between confidence and anxiety. 

In looking at where emergency savings impacts consumers' confidence, our data shows an even greater level of granularity. While there was a relatively even split between those who agreed they have enough set aside for emergency savings (40%) and those who disagree (45%), the definition of enough is where further lines are drawn. As a follow up, we asked consumers: how much of an emergency savings would you need to have in order to feel confident in your ability to cover emergency expenses?When it comes to emergency savings, 80% of consumers define enough as numbers with four digits or more. With that in mind, it is no small wonder why nearly half (45%) disagree that they have enough set aside for emergency savings.  

Consumers Value Primacy Over Complexity 

In our most recent research, we asked consumers how many financial accounts they have, citing examples of checking, savings, credit card, and loan accounts. Consumers said:In comparing this data to previous MX research from the end of 2025, we see the continuation of a teen we have noted of consumers consolidating their financial lives or focusing on their primary relationships. In this comparison we see more consumers (from 38% to 43%) with 1-2 financial accounts and fewer consumers (from 18% to 11%) with 6 or more financial accounts. That said, our data shows that the majority of consumers (58%) fall between 2 and 4 accounts. However, these trends change when viewed through the lens of annual household income. It stands to reason that consumers with high income levels would be more likely to have more diverse account holdings, and our data supports that. When looking at this data along annual household income levels, we see that 26% of consumers with an annual household income of $75,000 or more report holding 6 or more financial accounts. At the same time, only 6% of consumers with an annual household income of $74,999 or less have 6 or more financial accounts. 

MX consumer research has noted a shift over the last two years of consumers slowly reporting fewer held financial accounts, indicating that consumers are beginning to consolidate their financial lives to 1 or 2 primary financial relationships. However, these data points do not tell the whole story. 

In a recent report comparing our consumer research to MX platform data, we found another layer to the story of consumers held accounts. The report explains that while consumers actively connect 3 accounts when onboarding to the XM platform, on average this process reveals an additional 3 "discovered accounts”  beyond the 3 the user actively connected through transaction data. This means that across income levels users may have more accounts than they think and complexity exists within all consumers' financial lives. 

Consumers Expect Personalized Banking Experiences

With complexity present in every aspect of a consumer's financial lives, consumers increasingly expect their financial institutions to help simplify it.And for many consumers, this is just not happening. Thirty-four percent of consumers agree they often see messages from their financial providers that are not personalized or relevant to them. And, another 31% agree they often see irrelevant or outdated information in the insights provided by their financial provider.These numbers represent a slight increase in irrelevant messages and outdated insights from our research report from Q2 last year. That means that despite this being a consistent pain point, the financial providers for nearly a third of consumers have yet to meet consumer expectations for personalized financial experiences. 

Consumers have begun to view personalization as a baseline expectation rather than a premium service. They expect financial institutions to understand their circumstances, anticipate their needs, and deliver relevant recommendations.

However, the findings reveal a critical distinction: consumers want personalized experiences, but they are not yet ready to surrender financial control.

Primary Relationships Still Matter in a Fragmented Financial World

Whether increasingly fractured or slowly consolidated, consumers show a small number of trusted accounts and payment methods to simplify their day-to-day decisions.

Most consumers still identify a primary financial institution and a preferred payment method they reach for first. In fact, 43% of consumers agree they have a “top of wallet” account they use for a majority of their payments and purchases. In an environment defined by choice, earning "top-of-wallet" status remains one of the strongest indicators of consumer loyalty and engagement.

What Earns Top-of-Wallet Status?

The data suggests consumers overwhelmingly prioritize practicality when deciding which card they use most often. The strongest drivers of top of wallet behavior include convenience, rewards, and trust.

In selecting top reasons for choosing a top of wallet account consumers said:

These findings suggest that top-of-wallet status is earned first and foremost through a lack of friction. Consumers reach first for a card that is seamless to use. Whether that applies to the 1 in 10 consumers who chose a top of wallet card based on their digital wallet, or the nearly 1 in 3 consumers who chooses the card that is simply easiest to use. Beyond that, a quarter of consumers choose the account that offers the best rewards and roughly another 1 in 5 choose the account with their most trusted financial provider. 

There is not one answer to reaching top of wallet status, but simplicity, value, and trust are the three pillars in raising to the top of nearly all of your customers’ wallets.

Based on the source table, here's a revised version with actual survey data incorporated (rounded to the nearest whole percent). I've focused on the strongest findings rather than trying to include every response option.

Consumers Use Debit and Credit Cards for Different Financial Goals

Consumers are increasingly intentional about how they pay. Rather than relying exclusively on either debit or credit, most use each payment method strategically based on the type of purchase and the financial outcome they want to achieve.

For many consumers, debit cards are a tool for maintaining financial discipline. More than half (53%) say they prefer using debit for everyday purchases like groceries, gas, and dining, while 46% use debit to help them stay within budget and avoid overspending. Another 34% prefer debit because purchases draw directly from their checking account, reinforcing debit's role as a cash-flow management tool.

Credit cards, meanwhile, are reserved for situations where consumers see additional value. Nearly half (45%) prefer using credit for larger purchases over $100 or $200, while 16% choose credit when making purchases they may need to dispute or return. These findings suggest consumers view credit cards not simply as a borrowing tool, but as a way to access purchase protections and greater financial flexibility.While the reasons consumers choose one over the other, possibly the most telling insight is that twice as many (20% over 10%) of consumers report they rarely use credit over debt as opposed to the other way around. 

But in the end, rather than replacing one another, debit and credit cards increasingly play complementary roles in consumers' financial lives. Debit is primarily a budgeting and cash-flow management tool, while credit is used strategically for higher-value purchases and situations where additional protections are beneficial.

Digital Wallets Have Become Part of Everyday Payments

Digital wallets are also becoming an increasingly common part of consumers' payment habits. More than half of consumers (56%) report using a digital wallet at least once a week, including 26% who use their mobile wallet daily and 15% multiple times per day. On the other hand, nearly 1 in 3 (30%) of consumers report using a digital wallet either rarely or never. While these numbers follow a predictable pattern of technology adoption, with older generations reluctant to adopt (67% of Baby Boomers rarely or never using digital wallets) and younger generations more likely to opt in (43% of Gen Z using digital wallets daily) this paints an important picture of how consumers approach this payment method. Consumers either see digital wallets as a primary method of payment or a dismissed novelty. 

For financial institutions, this underscores an important shift in how they reach an increasingly polarized client base. Top of wallet success and primacy is dependent on versatility, and fictionless access to the ability to pay the way they want to pay. 

AI Adoption Is Growing Faster Than AI Trust

AI has entered the mainstream, with most consumers now using AI tools on a regular basis. However, that growing familiarity has not yet translated into trust when it comes to financial services.

We asked consumers how often they are using AI to help them complete tasks, and while a large number of consumers (44%) say they do not use AI on a consistent basis, 49% report using it at least weekly and 26% say it is at least daily. 

While overall adoption is becoming more common, usage varies dramatically by generation.Consumers are already integrating AI into their daily lives, primarily for information gathering, communication, and productivity.

Gen Z and Millennials have emerged as the leading adopters of AI-powered experiences. Both generations are significantly more likely than the overall population to use AI regularly, suggesting they are increasingly comfortable incorporating AI into everyday life.

By contrast, Baby Boomers remain highly skeptical. More than three-quarters report not using AI consistently, and only a small minority trust AI to help manage finances.

These findings suggest AI readiness is becoming a generational divide that is likely to influence future adoption of AI-powered financial experiences.

Consumers Trust AI as a Coach More Than a Decision Maker

Consumer trust is the highest in use cases where AI tools provide recommendations and advice.Consumers report a higher level of comfort in using AI as a source of guidance, while  are slightly less trusting of AI taking action on their behalf. And, that distinction becomes even clearer when consumers evaluate agentic AI experiences.The findings suggest consumers evaluate AI primarily through a risk lens. Trust is highest when actions are understood and consequences are limited, and lowest when AI influences core financial relationships.

AI Trust Will Follow Access and Value

AI adoption is rapidly infusing itself into our daily lives. Most consumers (56%) are using AI tools to help them complete tasks on a consistent basis, and they are using it in ways that supplement their daily lives. And while consumers report lower trust than usage, this discrepancy actually points to an opportunity for financial providers to drive adoption and primacy with their customers.

Consumers appear willing to adopt AI when it is easy to access and delivers clear, practical benefits in their daily lives. But in financial services, AI tools have yet to become commonplace and have been slower to demonstrate meaningful value for consumers.

For many consumers, AI chatbots are their first, and often only, experience with AI in financial services. But even in this most common case, only 34% of consumers say they have used an AI chatbot in financial services and of those, more than half (53%) say it was not very helpful or not helpful at all. 

This points to why many consumers have reservations about trusting AI to help them track and manage their finances. For many consumers, their exposure to AI in financial services remains limited. Even among those who have interacted with AI chatbots, more than half say the experience was not very helpful.

Even with that said, as many as 47% of consumers are ready to trust AI in certain use cases for financial guidance and 43% are ready to trust certain use cases for financial action. The findings suggest consumer trust follows demonstrated value. As consumers gain exposure to AI experiences that solve real financial problems, trust is likely to grow alongside adoption. For financial institutions, the opportunity is not simply to introduce AI, but to deliver experiences that are transparent, practical, and meaningfully improve consumers' financial lives.

Debt Continues to Shape Consumer Financial Behavior

Debt remains a central component of modern financial life, as 70% of consumers surveyed report at least 1 type of debt or loan.Credit card debt is now more common than mortgage debt among consumers, underscoring the evolution of where U.S Adults are focused on how to balance revolving balances with daily needs.

This change is further highlighted when looking at this data through a generational lens. On the whole, younger consumers report higher levels of loans — whether they are unsecured, student, or BNPL. The data shows that Gen Zers and Millennials are more willing to borrow to support their lives today, and figure out how to pay for it tomorrow. Alternatively, Baby boomers are pretty split between revolving credit card debt (40%) and no debt or loans (38%). 

These findings show that financial needs are widespread and varied and the lending solutions consumers need to support their needs are equally varied and widespread. Even as concerns vary between generations, there was not one loan absent from any generation. This means financial providers need to leverage quality granular data if they want to meet their consumers lending needs when their need arises. 

Data Is the Foundation of Modern Financial Relationships

Consumers are no longer looking for financial institutions to simply hold their money. They expect providers to understand their financial lives, anticipate their needs, and deliver experiences that make managing money easier. Whether they are choosing where to borrow, deciding which card earns top-of-wallet status, exploring AI-powered financial guidance, or simply trying to stay ahead of everyday expenses, one expectation remains consistent: relevance.

Meeting that expectation requires more than new products or new technology. It requires understanding the complete financial picture behind every customer.

Throughout this research, one theme emerges again and again. Consumers want personalized experiences, but they also want confidence that those experiences reflect their unique financial situation. They want lending offers that fit their needs, insights that arrive at the right moment, AI that provides meaningful value, and recommendations they can trust. None of these experiences are possible without accurate, comprehensive, and connected financial data.

As financial services continue to evolve, AI will create new opportunities to strengthen relationships—but only when it is built on trusted data. Personalization will become more precise. Lending decisions will become more relevant. Institutions will be better positioned to earn primacy, deepen engagement, and deliver value throughout the customer lifecycle. The organizations that succeed won't simply be the first to adopt AI or launch new digital experiences. They'll be the ones that understand their customers best.

Data is no longer just an operational asset. It is the foundation of every meaningful financial relationship. Financial institutions that invest in creating a complete, trusted view of their customers will be best positioned to deliver the personalized experiences, intelligent guidance, and lasting relationships consumers increasingly expect.

Survey Methodology

This survey of 1,035 American adults was conducted by MX in June 2026 using an online survey platform. Results included an even split in responses across each generation, as well as gender (male and female) and White and non-White (Asian, Black, Hispanic, or Other) respondents.